Listen to Me
by Tarnished Secret
Summary: Winry receives advice from Edward at one of the most bizarre moments. WinryxEd WinryxAl


**If I spelled "Resembool" wrong don't kill me I'm in too much of a rush to update this to check how it's spelled. **

A lot of people ask me about alchemy, I suppose, because I'm married to one of the most successful alchemists ever, and I know the other one as well as my own brother...Maybe because that's all he really is. But my outlook on alchemy?

Pffbt. Give me a wrench and a hunk of metal any day. Forget all that uncertainty. Forget the pain.

I suppose alchemy can be used for good too...Forget that. I haven't seen it.

Trying to bring back their mother: BAD.

Trying to bring back Alphonse: Well, okay, this one was semi-successful. Al **is** back, except that the whole transmutation didn't go as well as it could have, and he has auto-mail too, just like his brother.

After the semi-successful transmutation Alphonse and Ed came back to Resembool for awhile, but Ed grew restless. He didn't do well out here. He needed the excitement of Central.

So, after a couple of month's rest at Resembool, Edward went back to Central and fulfilled his State Alchemist duties, because he surprisingly didn't resign like he threatened to after fixing Al.

About a year later, Alphonse and I got married. It was bittersweet, really. I was happy to marry Al, of course...I love him to death, but the fact that both our parents, and grandparents were dead to see it made it slightly depressing!

Ed managed to come. It was great seeing him again. He didn't really change much, hair still in that childish pony-tail, eyes as golden as ever...Although I did notice that his eyes seemed hollower. I mentioned that to Al a couple of days later, but he insisted that he didn't see any difference.

A couple of years passed. Life was as normal as it could be. I took up Grandma's business as an auto-mail engineer and having Alphonse around was a huge blessing. Alchemy, I thought, maybe **isn't** as bad as I had been making it out to be.

Life continued in Resembool. However, living out here in the rural area turned out to be a pain in the ass when I wanted to know how Ed was doing. He never sent us anything, true Elric fashion, and we don't get news often. I wondered how long it would be until we got a message saying some killer had killed him, or he had blown himself up in a transmutation...

One night, someone's house was burning down, and Alphonse went to go help put it out. I was sitting in the living room, petting our new dog, when someone knocked on the door. I figured it was Alphonse or someone else about the house and went to answer it, first putting my glass in the kitchen and leading the dog into another room, then opening the door.

"Just like you to keep me waiting, Win."

"Ed!" He smiled, and allowed me to hug him, something he wouldn't be caught **dead** doing in front of Mustang and them. "How are you! Oh no...What's wrong this time?" His eyes looked genuinely confused.

"What do you mean?"

"You broke your auto-mail, didn't you!" Damn...My wrench was in the workroom. He smiled again.

"No, Winry, my auto-mail's fine. I just came to tell you a couple of things."

"Well, then, do you want to come inside?" He shook his head.

"I always forget how nice it is on summer nights."

"Well, if you would come home more often..."

"Sorry, Win, can't do that. Busy, you know. Pretty hard to make this trip." His eyes lit on mine. "Is Al home?"

"No, sorry."

"Good."

"Good? Don't you want to see your own brother?" Edward was acting extremely weird, shuffling his feet around in the dirt.

"He knows what I'm going to tell you, he doesn't need to be told again."

"Well...?" I asked, my patience wearing thin. Ed looked up from his feet, his eyes looking ten times as hollow as they had at the wedding.

"You need to get out of here. They're talking...There's going to be a huge raid, and everyone's going to be killed." Without realizing it, I had started crying.

"What are you talking about!"

"Listen to me, Winry." I involuntarily backed up onto a star as he took a step forward. "You **need** to listen. Al's become stubborn, and as much as we tell him to leave he won't. Don't do that to me, Winry! You need to get out." I choked on my own tears.

"Who's talking to Al!" He rolled his eyes.

"Me, Winry, and Mustang and them. We've known it, but it was hard to get out here what with the transmutation problem and stuff."

"What problem?"

"There's **always **a problem, eh Winry? This time, there were deaths. Mustang and I were trying to do a complex transmutation and the thing exploded."

"Are you...Okay?"

"Eh...Roy died."

"I'm so sorry."

"He'll be fine, they're promoting him. But it doesn't matter. A new band of military protesters have sprung up, and their next target is Resembool, and especially homes of people in contact with the military!"

"Haha...As if we're in contact with the military. You don't send us any letters or anything."

"And I'm sorry, Win. Honestly!" He walked toward me again, and I didn't move. "I didn't tell you, but on your wedding day, you were so beautiful...Twice as much as what Alphonse and I ever thought you would ever amount to, and we thought of you highly." I started to cry again, wishing I would stop, but Ed kept saying things that made me cry. Such like him.

Ed was still walking towards me, and when he reached the stair he kissed me.

Winry, I care about you, more then anyone..." He started again. "Please, just so I can rest, get out." I swallowed thickly and nodded. He grinned, looking like an 8-year old.

"Well, then, Win, I have to go."

"Just like that!"

"Yep. Uh...Mustang's funeral! Can't miss it. Just remember what I said, Winry. I don't care if you can convince Al or not, I'm sure he can fend for himself..."

"Hey!" I cried indigently. He smiled.

"See you later." He smiled again, saluted me, and walked away.

An hour later Al came home to me sitting on the stairs, crying. "Winry! Are you okay!" He asked, running towards the stairs and sitting next to me.

"Al, is it true?" I asked through my tears.

"What?"

"Is it true that there's going to be a huge raid...?" He stood up.

"Who told you that!" Al's gray eyes hardened.

"Military. They called." No one would have believed me if I said Ed had come anyway...Surely he would have at least wanted to see Alphonse.

"Well, Winry, I'm not leaving."

"Why not, Al! What if they're right?"

"They're not!"

"How do you know that!"

"I think it's unlikely."

"And if its true? You're going to get killed because of a gut feeling? These people know more than us, Alphonse."

"As if. They're probably just telling us that there's going to be a raid to get us to leave so they can come and recruit as many people as they can. There's going to be a war soon."

"That makes no sense."

"Well, then, you can go." Al walked inside the house, leaving me totally confused. He seemed so set in his thoughts, but he had no proof. It reminded me of what Ed had said. "There's **always **a problem, eh Winry?" Had something else gone wrong with Al's transmutation so that he didn't think like us...Or was the sweet little boy I knew really just stubborn?

Edward never did tell me **when **to leave, so I just left the day after and stayed at a nearby town, outside of Resembool. Alphonse was still asleep when I left, and that was how I wanted it to be. Ed didn't trust him, and I didn't either, as much as it hurts for me to say that.

Three days later, a huge group of men all dressed in military uniforms came into Resembool, and used military alchemic amplifiers to burn down houses and kill people. They didn't have a reason, and they didn't have a purpose. Reminds me of Al for not leaving.

But I was taught not to speak ill of the dead, so I won't say that again. Alphonse was killed when our house was lit on fire. The wooden supports crumbled and trapped him inside--A horrible death.

The funeral was held a week after, and I was trying as hard as I couldn't not to cry. For whatever reason he acted so odd during the end of his life, I still loved him.

Someone walked up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see First Lieutenant Havoc and Lieutenant Colonel Hawkeye.  
Hawkeye smiled sadly. "We're extremely sorry for your loss," She said, Havoc nodding at her side.

"And I yours," I replied. Her smile fell.

"How did you know that the Major General died?" She inquired.

"Ed told me. He visited a couple of days ago, and he was the one who told me to get out of Resembool." Havoc and Hawkeye exchanged glances.

"Didn't Alphonse tell you to get out?"

"No," I shook my head violently. "It was Edward. He came and said that Al wasn't listening to the military."

"That's not possible." Havoc said, staring at me like I was insane.

"How so?"

"Edward died in an alchemic explosion...The same one that we lost Roy to."


End file.
